GSMA launch State of the Industry Report 2015

The GSMA Mobile Money for the Unbanked Working Group released their annual State of the Industry Report during Mobile World Congress 2016.

Key findings:

There are now over 411M registered mobile money accounts worldwide, a 31% increase during 2015.

Mobiles now reach 84% of people in developing countries. More households have access to a mobile than to clean water & electricity.

Cross-border remittance was the fastest growing mobile money service in 2015, a 52% growth from 2014.

At least 19 markets now have more mobile money accounts than bank accounts.

Three-quarters of service providers maintained or increased their investment in mobile money during 2015.

Strong growth is emerging in new regions including South Asia, where more than a third of all registered mobile money accounts were opened in 2015.

Mobile money providers processed just over a billion transactions in December 2015, which is more than double what PayPal processed globally. Furthermore, active mobile money customers conduct an average of 11.2 transactions per month and maintain a median account balance of US$ 4.70, both increases from 2014.

Fifteen providers reported revenues of more than US$ 1 million during the month of June 2015, up from 11 in June 2014. All but three of these providers are MNOs, and 12 have over one million active accounts on a 90-day basis.

Smartphone penetration growth will effect mobile money usage – in 90% of mobile money markets, most users will have smartphones by 2020

Yet despite the growth and opportunities presented in this year’s report, there is, as Matt Granyard, Director General of GSMA states, “more to be done”.

“It is clear that we, as an industry, must do more to fulfil mobile money’s promise to provide a range of affordable financial products and services to the underserved. For mobile money to reach its commercial and social impact potential, providers must invest in building the broader ecosystem and drive usage in new products and services. This will make mobile money more sustainable, profitable, and relevant to customers in the long term.”